Freedom on independence day

Volodymyr Mykolayenko, mayor of the city of Kherson in south Ukraine from February 2014 till December 2020, was aware of the perils of Russian attacks, because he witnessed the occupation of Crimea in 2014. But he never believed that Russians would attack the south of Ukraine and that too his city, Kherson. Here are excerpts from what he told Mridula Ghosh after he was freed from Russian captivity.

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"When the war began in 2022, I thought it would mainly affect.

Donbas. I was 62 and was just a pensioner. Yet I knew I had to fight for my country and my family. As soon as the full-scale invasion started that February, I registered with the territorial defence unit. We had only guns, but we were proud to play even a small role. When Kherson was occupied in those early days, we went underground and began planning guerrilla warfare. Our non-cooperation movement was born that way.

On April 18, 2022, an old acquaintance called me, asking to meet about something urgent. I agreed, but it was a trap. Russian FSB agents arrived, handcuffed me, and took me to the oblast police department. I was held for 16 days in the basement.

The torture and humiliation were constant. They wanted to break us and make us believe the Russians were "God's gift" to Ukraine. The first "gift" from them was my three broken ribs.

Their goal was to intimidate and silence us, to force us to tell our people that Russia was here forever.